Murray Kuun Design & Lutherie

While the attention of the sports world is on South Africa because of the
World Cup soccer tournament, Murray Kuun Design & Lutherie recently
caught our eye. The one-man shop based in Johannesburg, South Africa, is
run by woodworker and furniture designer-turned-luthier Murray Kuun. After
20 years of designing and creating less musical wood creations like beds,
kitchen countertops, and entertainment centers, Kuun decided to add luthier
to his woodworking résumé.

For about nine years, Kuun constructed violins ranging from the 18th century
classical instrument to the hand-carved, jacaranda-based X-bow, which
resembled a futuristic a crossbow more than a violin. Three years ago he
moved into the world of archtops and acoustics. In a short amount of time,
Kuun has developed several models, including the Norma Jean Family guitars
dedicated to his favorite American actress, Norma Jeane Mortenson—aka
Marilyn Monroe. His guitars maintain a more traditional look and feel compared
to some of his violins. “I consider myself an artist and designer rather
than a technician,” says Kuun. “Most of the changes I’ve made are aesthetic
… I generally use traditional bracing and building techniques until recently
with my Moon and Stars Classical.”

Sonata
The classical Sonata is a guitar that embraces the tonewoods found in Kuun’s
homeland of Africa. It features an African mahogany neck with an Indian rosewood
fingerboard. The soundhole inlays are made from African rosewood and wild olive.
The back and sides are made with African rosewood. The only part of the guitar
lacking African woods is the top, which is made of European spruce.

Norma Jean Archtop
The Norma Jean Archtop is all
hand-carved with a red cedar
top and birdseye maple back
and sides. It’s loaded with
a chrome Kent Armstrong
Slimbucker Neck Jazz pickup.
The pickguard is koa and
attached to it is a discrete volume
control only sticking out a
few millimeters. Like standard
archtops, the Indian rosewood
bridge’s height can be adjusted,
as can its intonation. “In terms
of traditional American archtop
builders, I really admire the
guitars of Ken Parker and Bob
Benedetto,” says Kunn.

Moon and Stars Classical
On the Moon and Stars Classical, Kuun flexes some of his design talents on its innovative bracing and
laminated linings that create a “very stiff, but responsively powerful top that gives the guitar a crystal clear
clarity and sustain.” He implemented a fanned lattice-style bracing derived from cathedral architecture
that’s “designed to relieve the string tension the neck is put under and negate any problems it could
inflict on the soundbox … it just helps create a spectacular sounding guitar with its own vocabulary.”

In addition to the structural changes, Kuun aesthetically jazzed this model up by giving it a unique
moon-shaped soundhole that is lined with genuine tanzanite stones for the appearance of stars. The
tonewoods include a western red cedar top and Indian mahogany back, sides, bridge and binding. It
has a Honduras cedar neck paired with an ebony fretboard.

Norma Jean Classical
The Norma Jean Classical
features a German spruce top
with curly maple back and
sides. The neck is made from
a blonde mahogany and is
matched with an Indian rosewood
fretboard. The guitar’s
aesthetic is minimalist, but it
does have soundhole inlays
made of wild olive.

Pricing and Availability
Murray Kuun’s guitars start at around $3500, but vary depending on the particular model
and its specifications because each instrument is individually priced and made. Also, the
wait time on a Murray Kuun guitar varies between three months and a year, depending
on the backlog of orders and the availability of materials.
murraykuun.com

Chris has degrees in Journalism and History from the University of Iowa and has been with PG dating back to his days as an intern in 2007. Since then, he's become Associate Editor and done almost everything—including overseeing web content/article creation, video shooting/editing, and writing artist features and music reviews. He spends his free time with his pitbull Doozy, collecting tattoos, trying his hand at being a hipster by gathering vinyl. He's one of the lone sports nuts on staff and cheers on the Cubs, Cowboys, and Michigan Wolverines. Oh yeah, he of course enjoys making noise on the guitar. Follow Chris on Twitter.

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